WASHINGTON The three West African nations Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea striving to emerge from the aftermath of the Ebola epidemic, that has taken toll of 10,702 lives and left the countries bearing huge economic burden, have called for $8 billion aid to help rebuild their economies and boost disease prevention measures.

Calling it a Marshall Plan, the leaders of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone told an Ebola recovery summit held at the World Bank in Washington that they need half the money within two years to support economic recovery and set in place long term recovery plans.

"Ebola is like a war on our countries, and that is why we call on you to come up with new funds to face the consequences of this disease," said Guinean President Alpha Conde on Friday..

The economic impact is "as much a tragedy and disaster as the disease," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia told media narrating how airlines abandoned her country, markets closed, growth stalled and tourism and foreign investment vanished while the disease ravaged the country.

The story was much the same in the other two nations. Liberia's economy is slowly recovering, Guinea is stagnating and Sierra Leone is suffering severe recession, according to the World Bank which has pledged at least $650 million during the next 12 to 18 months.

The World Bank aid comes amid recent steady decline in the number of new cases in the region. Weekly tallies are now down to fewer than 40 cases their lowest level since last May, when the outbreak was just beginning to gather steam.

Liberia has not had a single new case since late March. Sierra Leone is in sight of that goal as well, said the World Health Organization's Bruce Aylward at a news conference Thursday.

The new funds are in addition to nearly $1 billion that the World Bank Group previously committed for the Ebola emergency response and early recovery efforts including from IDA (US$518 million) and IFC ($450 million), and also comes on top of $2.17 billion in debt relief from the WBG (Guinea, $1,098.5 million; Liberia, $464.7 million; and Sierra Leone, $ 506.8 million), which during 2015-17 will save the three countries about $75 million annually in debt payments.

Apart from $8 billion for the Marshal Plan, the three countries, which bore the major burden of the epidemic, have sought $3.2 billion for debt relief .

All the three countries face serious socio-economic vulnerabilities, including decimated government budgets and the need to rebuild employment, education, infrastructure and routine health care.

A donors conference is set for July, as the three countries struggle to put in place a strengthened system of surveillance to spot any resurgence. The challenges are many including shortage of trained health-care workers.

Plans to set up Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is but one step ahead, announced recently.